Sharing settings for 1920x1080 H.264

Question

Level 6

19,970 points

Sharing settings for 1920x1080 H.264

Hi,

Which FCPX 1920x1080 H.264 sharing setting do you suggest for archiving? The goal is to have a good balance on file size and quality with maximum viewer compatibility (Mac, PC, mobile devices). Chapter markers are sometimes needed.

I have been a long-time iMovie 1-6 user that FINALLY bit the bullet and switched to FCPX yesterday. I haven't really touched my DV camcorder in years. Most of my videos now come from Canon 6D, DJI Phantom 3 Professional and iOS devices. DJI's 4K videos were the last straw because my old late 2009 Mac mini stutters badly with even with DJI's lower 1920x1080 setting. But if I let FCPX optimize them, the editing is OK (I tested proxy files but they seemed to stutter slightly).

I experimented a little and it seems there are some differences in H.264 sharing presets:

a) Export File... > Apple Devices (Better Quality) outputs m4v at about 10.15 Mbit/s. AFAIK m4v is a container format, and it allows to store chapter information and AC3 audio. Its compatibility seems to be good for PCs, but do other options REALLY behave worse on Windows etc?

b) Apple Devices 1080p outputs mov at about 13.74 Mbit/s. mov is a container format which supports chapters. It claims compatibility only for the Mac -- what about Windows?

c) Export File... > Computer (Better Quality) outputs mp4 at about 19.98 Mbit/s which produces the biggest files but I couldn't readily see any quality differences. AFAIK mp4 does not support chapters but the to my surprise the output mp4 DID have them at least on a Mac.

d) FCPX does not allow the user set the bitrate but getting Compressor for that is overkill for me.

e) MPEG Streamclip's Apple TV preset* outputs .mp4 at 5 Mbit/s and the quality seems to be as good as with the options above. But (like QT Player 7 or QT Player X) it loses chapter information in the output. And unfortunately MPEG Streamclip has not been updated for a long time and it has some cosmetic viewer scaling issues in OS X 10.10. (*First export as a Apple ProRes 422 Master file form FCPX. Then in MPEG Streamclip Export to MPEG-4... > iTunes... > Apple TV 1280x720 (HD) preset > switch to 1920x1080 (HDTV 1080i) and set Interlaced scaling OFF).

thanks,

- Matti

Posted on Aug 14, 2015 2:33 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Aug 14, 2015 6:37 AM in response to Matti Haveri

I'd approach this from a slightly different direction.

If you think there is even a slight chance you will want to re-edit a project in the future, then I would keep the original clips and then the question of what H.264 quality becomes irrelevant.

You can get rid of all the render files and any transcoded media since they can always be re-generated.

Use the Consolidate command to make sure all your media is collected.

As to playability, a PC may not understand an m4v extension Use Master File and one of the mp4 formats.

BTW, the audio for an m4v is ACC.

Good luck.

Russ

Reply

Answer 2

Matti Haveri Author

Level 6

19,970 points

Aug 14, 2015 2:22 PM in response to Russ H

Thanks for the reply, Russ!

For my very first project I chose "Export File... > Apple Devices (Better Quality)" because it outputs smallest files (10 Mbit/s) with better than acceptable quality (I just confirmed that the output plays OK on my "ancient" iPhone 4S and iPad mini. I also confirmed that the FCPX playback quality setting didn't seem to matter as some sources claim -- I also didn't see any real difference even with FCPX's better vs faster encoder setting with DJI 4K input in Photoshop 400% output image evaluation).

These are just home videos so basically I need to compress the large input to an universal 1920x1080 delivery format, and then destroy the original files (I DO keep important original files for a while on backups. So I just backupped my first project's input files AND the FCPX project to an external disk (duplicate the FCPX project and select copy used clips only).

...my late 2009 Mac mini is showing its age but, to my surprise, it can handle even 4K FCPX-optimized video given enough time... I've been glancing Mac Pro, though...

- Matti

Reply

Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Aug 14, 2015 3:06 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Matti Haveri wrote:

These are just home videos so basically I need to compress the large input to an universal 1920x1080 delivery format, and then destroy the original files

Glad you have a process that works for you.

Just to note that home videos can be some of the most important we possess or work on for others.

Russ

Reply